14-year-old boy dies, among at least 10 shot overnight

Chicago Tribune reporter Rosemary Sobol details multiple shootings over the night two of which involved children.

Chicago Tribune reporter Rosemary Sobol details multiple shootings over the night two of which involved children.

By Rosemary Regina SobolTribune reporter

At least 10 people were shot overnight in Chicago, including a 14-year-old boy shot a block from his West Side home who later died, an 11-year-old girl sitting on the front steps of her Northwest Side home, and three men shot in a single incident on the Near West Side.

In a shooting on the West Side, a 14-year-old boy told police he was standing outside in a vacant lot when he heard shots and felt pain about 12:20 a.m. in the 4000 block of West Wilcox Street, according to Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines.

According to a police report, when police responded to a call of person shot, officers heard the boy, Lavander Hearnes, lying in the street saying: “I been shot, I’m shot, help!"

Lavander told police he’d been in the lot with a large gathering of unknown people when he heard a gunshot and felt pain, the report said. He ran northbound on Wilcox and collapsed at 4050 W. Wilcox. The victim could not provide with any details about the shooter and said he'd not seen the shooter, only heard the gunshot. The boy’s mother got to the scene.

Lavander, of the 3900 block of West Wilcox Street, was pronounced dead at 9:04 a.m. Sunday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's officeby the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The boy was shot in the chest and initially taken to Mount Sinai in critical condition, according to Gaines and Chicago Fire Department spokesman Will Knight. Gaines earlier said the boy was 16.

Detectives were taking pictures and examining evidence on the ground in front of a dark red Mercury Villager minivan parked near the lot.

Yellow police tape was stretched across Wilcox behind the minivan and a detective used a flashlight to peer into a front window of a building across the street from the vehicle. A group of people sat on the stoop of the building.

Gaines said no arrests have been made but police continue to investigate.

The girl, 11, was sitting on the steps of her home in the 2300 block of North Kostner Avenue in the Hermosa neighborhood with family members about 4 a.m. this morning when the shooter, possibly a woman, fired four or five times and struck the girl in the side, according to Grand Central District police Sgt. John Schuler.

The girl suffered a through-and-through wound to her side and was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital, said Schuler.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Will Knight said the girl was taken in fair-to-serious condition to Lurie.

The shooter ran away north on Kostner and was not in custody, said Schuler. No one else on the steps and porch area, including her 25-year-old brother and an aunt, was wounded.

A motive was not known immediately and a better description of the shooter was not yet available.

Police taped off the area and were searching the grass in front of the brick, 2-story building; they found three shell casings there and a fourth casing on a car parked on the street. A white, wrought iron gate was partially open, leading to the seven or eights steps where the child was sitting when the shooter approached.

The casings were from a small-caliber handgun, said Schuler.

In another shooting, about 5:30 a.m. in the 300 block of South Green Street in the West Town neighborhood, three men were wounded, according to News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada.

A 22-year man was hit in the torso and was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in serious condition and a 23-year-old man was shot in the leg and was taken to Mount Sinai, where his condition has stabilized, Estrada said. A third man, age 21, was hit in the forearm and took himself to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, where he is in good condition.

Estrada had no further details about the circumstances surrounding that shooting.

In other overnight shootings:

• A 37-year-old man told police that he was shot about 5:50 a.m. in the 9500 block of South State Street in the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the South Side, Estrada said. The man, who was shot in the right shoulder and left arm, transported himself to St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center.

• About 4 a.m., a 42-year-old man was in the garage of his home in 5500 block of South Sacramento Avenue in the Southwest Side's Gage Park neighborhood when a male approached and fired several shots in his direction before running away down an alley, Estrada said. The man was hit in the leg, Estrada said, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair-to-serious condition, according to Knight.

• About 3:20 a.m. in the 5600 block of South Wabash Avenue in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side, two men, ages 29 and 28, were standing on a sidewalk when another male approached and opened fire, Estrada said. The two were both taken to Stroger hospital, where their conditions have stabilized. Both suffered knee injuries -- the 29-year-old in the left knee and the 28-year-old in the right knee.

• A 53-year-old man is in serious condition at Stroger Hospital after he was shot about 11:20 p.m. Saturday night in the 4500 block of South McDowell Avenue in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side, Estrada said. The man was approached by another man who shot him once in the left side of his torso before fleeing on foot, Estrada said.